US returns Iraqi artefacts recovered in Syria raid

Baghdad 

The United States returned Wednesday hundreds of Iraqi artefacts its special forces recovered during a raid in Syria against a man described as the Islamic State group's top financier.

Some of the pieces were displayed at the Iraqi national museum during a repatriation ceremony attended by Antiquities Minister Adel Shirshab and US Ambassador Stuart Jones.

"These artefacts are indisputable evidence that Daesh (IS) -- beyond its terrorism, beyond its brutality and destruction -- is also a criminal gang that is looting antiquities from museums and historical sites," Jones said. 

"And of course the purpose of this is to sell these items on the black market," he said.

The pieces on display in one of the recently reopened museum's main Assyrian halls Wednesday were small items, including coins, statuettes and jewellery.

"The coins for example are from the Islamic period. This is evidence that this terrorism that claims such heritage is blasphemous is trying to profit from it by selling it," Shirshab said. 

The artefacts were retrieved by the US commandos who carried out a rare raid inside Syria on May 15 during which Abu Sayyaf, a top IS figure, was killed. 

Abu Sayyaf was believed to be the jihadist organisation's top financier, and US officials said they were learning a lot by analysing what the raid had produced.